Backpedaling? A time delay? A lasting gesture? This Thursday, the Secretary of State for the Sea announced the extension of diesel aid paid to fishermen. While he had confirmed the end of these public subsidies on October 15, Hervé Berville has visibly changed his mind. This Thursday, he confirmed that this aid of 20 cents per liter of fuel would continue until December 4 after a meeting with fishing professionals in Guilvinec, in Finistère. “This is the response to the emergency,” explained the Secretary of State.
Demanded by fishermen claiming to be playing for their survival, the extension of this cash flow aid closes a stormy chapter in relations between professionals and government. At the end of September, before the fishing conference in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), Hervé Berville affirmed that it was not possible to extend this system outside the European “temporary framework” put in place in March 2022 after the start of the war in Ukraine. The Secretary of State assured that the State had spent 75 million euros on this fuel aid.
The fishermen, who demanded a rapid response to the “cataclysm” experienced by the industry due to the cost of fuel, denounced a “disengagement of the State” and left the meeting room before the end of the Secretary of State’s speech. .
Fishermen want more lasting measures
Several fishermen interviewed said they were relieved by the continuation of this emergency aid, but are still calling for measures to “sustain fishing”, judging in particular the dramatic situation of offshore vessels, which consume more fuel to reach the high seas. In some cases, the price of diesel represents more than 40% of shipowners’ turnover.